Poltergeist activity is probably the most misunderstood form of
paranormal activity, at least in conjunction with haunted houses. The
word poltergeist actually means "noisy ghost" when translated
from German and for many years, researchers believed that noisy ghosts
were causing the phenomena reported in these cases. It was assumed that
the things which occurred in a house that was "haunted" by a
poltergeist were caused by an outside force. While some cases of
real-like “poltergeists” have turned out to be both “intelligent”
spirits and the work of human agents, some cases exist that lead
researchers to believe that they may actually be combination of the two.
I believe it is possible that some locations actually attract both kinds
of phenomena!

First, let’s take a look at the two different types of cases that are
referred to as “poltergeists”.....

Poltergeist cases are the work of actual, intelligent spirits.... while
poltergeist-like cases are the work of human agents. What makes this so hard
to define is the fact that some cases are a combination of the two.... where
haunted locations carry such a charge of energy that they make it possible for
ghosts to exist there and for the unconscious energy of the human agent to
manifest.

In both kinds of cases,
similar phenomena takes places, including: knocking and tapping
sounds; noises with no visible cause; disturbance of stationary
objects like household items and furniture; doors slamming; lights
turning on and off; fires breaking out; rock and dirt throwing;
physical and sexual assaults and much more. In some cases, these
events can be tangible evidence of ghosts, but in other cases, while
the activity is paranormal, it has nothing to do with the spirits.

Leaving out the actual cases involving negative and violent spirits, the
current and widely accepted theory behind poltergeist phenomena is that the
activity is usually caused by a person in the household.

This person is usually an adolescent girl, and normally one who is troubled
emotionally. It is believed that this person may be unconsciously manipulating
the items in the house by psychokinesis (PK), the power to move things by
energy generated in the brain. This kinetic energy remains unexplained, but
even mainstream scientists are starting to admit that it does seem to exist.
It is unknown why this energy seems to appear in females around the age of
puberty, but it has been documented to occur. It seems that when the activity
begins to manifest, the girl is usually in the midst of some emotional or
sexual turmoil. It is also possible for young boys, and even adults, to be
able to manifest this unknowing ability. The vast majority of people have no
idea they are causing the activity and are usually surprised to find there is
even a possibility they could be making the strange things happen.

What can be even more difficult for the researcher is when the acts of the
spirits and this energy both manifest themselves in a location. It is believed
that this can, and does occur, and two of the most famous “haunted house”
cases of this century boasted just this sort of strangeness.
BORLEY RECTORY
One of the world’s most famous haunted house cases was actually a case of
where a haunted location assisted a human agent in creating her own activity.
There seems to be no question that Borley Rectory was actually haunted...
whether you choose to believe researcher Harry Price (and I do) or not. The
long history of independent accounts leads us to believe the haunting went on
for many years before Price ever got involved.

Briefly, Borley Rectory was a
deteriorating old manor house in the English county of Essex. Harry
Price got involved in the case in 1929 when a newspaper report told of
some of the strange things that had gone on there for many years. He
would later write two books about the house and it would go on to be
known as “the Most Haunted House in England”.

Borley Rectory

Price was asked by the paper to investigate and he was told about the
history of reported there, like phantom footsteps; strange lights; ghostly
whispers; a headless man; a girl in white; the sounds of a phantom coach
outside; the apparition of the home’s builder, Henry Bull; and the spirit of
the nun who walked in the garden.

Local legend had it that a monastery had once been located on the site and
that a 13th century monk and a beautiful young novice were killed while trying
to elope from the place. The monk was hanged and his would-be bride was
bricked up alive within the walls of her convent.

The stories had been told for many years by scores of reliable and independent
witnesses. Price interviewed many of the former tenants and investigated the
house thoroughly, even leasing the place for one year for a 24 hour a day
vigil. Many of Price’s accounts from Borley would be first-hand, as he
claimed to see and hear much of the reported phenomena like hearing bells
ring, rapping noises and seeing objects that has been moved from one place to
another.

Although troublesome, the ghosts at the rectory had been relatively peaceful
until October 1930 when Reverend Lionel Foyster and his wife, Marianne moved
into the house. Their time in residence would see a marked increase in the
paranormal activity. People were locked out of rooms, household items
vanished, windows were broken, furniture was moved, odd sounds were heard and
much more.

However, the worst of the incidents seemed to involve Mrs. Foyster, as she was
thrown from her bed at night, slapped by invisible hands, forced to dodge
heavy objects which flew at her day and night, and was once almost suffocated
with a mattress. Soon after, there began to appear a series of scrawled
messages on the walls of the house, written by an unknown hand. They seemed to
be pleading with Mrs. Foyster, using phrases like "Marianne, please help
get" and "Marianne light mass prayers".

Because nearly all of the poltergeist-like activity occurred when Mrs. Foyster
was present, Price was inclined to attribute it to her unknowing
manipulations. However, he did believe in the possibility of the ghostly nun
and some of the other reported phenomena. The rectory did not fit into
pre-conceived notions of a haunted house, which was one of the reasons that it
would go on to gain such a reputation. Despite the implications of the
phenomena centering around Marianne, Price maintained that at least one of the
spirits in the house had found the rector’s wife to be sympathetic to its
plight. This was the only explanation he could find for the mysterious
messages.

To Price, and to my own thinking, Borley Rectory was actually a catalyst for
paranormal activity. There was something about the location itself that seemed
to invite energy in and also to act as a storage battery that Marianne Foyster
could somehow tap into. The house boasted three different types of
phenomena... the ghosts that interacted with the investigators, the possible
residual haunting the nun... and the poltergeist-like activity produced by
Mrs. Foyster.

THE SAN PEDRO HAUNTING
Another case that brought together two types of activity seems to be the San
Pedro Haunting or the Jackie Hernandez case, that was investigated by Barry
Taff, who also investigated the famous “Entity” case.

Taff got involved in the case, along with cameraman Barry Conrad, in 1989 when
he was asked to look into a house in San Pedro, California that was allegedly
being haunted. The owner of the house was Jackie Hernandez, a young woman with
a number of emotional problems.

The investigators were told of strange smells, unexplained sounds, moving
objects, apparitions, a glowing cloud that tried to suffocate her (and which
had appeared in front of other witnesses) and actually witnessed a peculiar,
dripping substance dripping from the kitchen cabinets.

The events in the house grew stronger and even followed Jackie from place to
place. Taff began to believe that she was creating the phenomena unconsciously
because of her emotional problems and what became a strong romantic attachment
to Barry Conrad. It seemed that anyone who might be perceived as threat to
Jackie’s relationship with Barry ended up on the end of a violent attack by
the “ghosts”.

However, there are problems with the theory that this was strictly a “human
agent” haunting. The unexplained lights are certainly odd... and so would be
the reports of male apparitions from witnesses and the fact that (as Barry
Taff found out later) Jackie’s house continued to be reported as haunted
long after she moved out. According to the owners, no subsequent tenants
stayed there for longer than 6 months. Could this be merely some left-over “after
effect” from Jackie’s presence there? Or something else?

Now, let’s take a look at some famous cases that leave little doubt as to
their source!

THE MACOMB POLTERGEIST
One of the most famous poltergeist cases in America took place in Macomb,
Illinois in 1948. In this case, a disturbed teenager named Wanet McNeil was
forced to live with her father after her parent's bitter divorce. The girl and
her father moved to an uncle's farm, just west of Macomb. Wanet was very
unhappy with the situation and her emotions were high. In the weeks that
followed, Wanet managed to start fires all over her uncle's farm with nothing
other than the power of her mind. She had no idea that she was causing the
phenomena.

The fires began on August 7 on the farm of Charles Willey. They began as small
brown spots which appeared on the wallpaper in the house. The spots would
appear and then mysteriously burst into flames. This continued to happen day
after day and neighbors came to help keep watch and put out fires as they
appeared. Pans and buckets of water were left all over the house and when a
spot would appear, it would be quickly drenched. Still, the mysterious fires
sprang up in front of the startled witnesses and volunteers began standing by
with hoses to put out the blazes. The fire chief from Macomb, Fred Wilson, was
called in to investigate and he had the family strip all of the wallpaper from
every wall in the house. Dozens of witnesses then watched as brown spots
appeared on the bare plaster and then burst into flames.

During the week of August 7, fires appeared on the front porch, ignited the
curtains in every room, and even engulfed an entire bed. The National Fire
Underwriters Laboratory investigated and reported that the wallpaper had been
coated with flour paste and no bug repellant was present which might have
contained a flammable compound. They had no explanation for what they had
seen.

In addition to a number of insurance investigators, the Illinois State Deputy
Fire Marshal, John Burgard, also came to the farm.

In the week that followed, over 200 fires broke out, an average of 29 per day.
On Saturday, August 14, the fires raged out of control and finally consumed
the entire house. Willey drove posts into the ground and made a shelter for
his family with a tarpaulin, while McNeil moved himself and his children into
the garage. The next day, the barn went up in flames.

On Tuesday, several fires broke out in the milkhouse, which was being used as
a dining room. On Thursday, there were two more blazes and a pile of newspaper
was found to be smoldering in the chicken house. Later that day, the farm’s
second barn burned down in less than an hour.

The family fled to a nearby vacant house, but the fires continued. That same
day, the United States Air Force got involved in the mystery. They suggested
the fires might be caused by some sort of directed radiation, but had no other
explanation for what was going on.

By this time, the farm was swarming with spectators, investigators, and
reporters. Over 1000 people came to the farm on August 22! The suggested
explanations ranged from fly spray, to radio waves, to underground gas
pockets.... with everything else being ruled out, the officials turned to the
possibility of arson.

While they had no explanation for the fires that suddenly appeared in front of
reliable witnesses, with no possible natural cause, they did realize the
puzzle had to be solved... and quickly. On August 30, officials announced the
case to be closed. The arsonist, according to officials, was Wanet, a slight,
13-year-old, who apparently possessed some pretty incredible skills.... and an
unlimited supply of matches! Supposedly, no one had been looking when she
started all of the fires by herself, using ordinary kitchen matches.

Deputy Fire Marshal Burgard and State’s Attorney Keith Scott had taken Wanet
aside for a little talk and after "an hour’s intensive
questioning," she had allegedly confessed. Her reasons? Apparently, she
was unhappy; didn’t like the farm; wanted to see her mother; and didn’t
have any pretty clothes. Forgotten were the witnesses who had seen the brown
spots appear, spread and then turn into fires, while Wanet was nowhere to be
seen. Also forgotten were the fires that had appeared on the ceilings, which
could not have been set with ordinary kitchen matches.

This explanation pleased the authorities but not all of the reporters who were
present seemed convinced.... and the hundreds of paranormal investigators who
have examined the case over the years haven’t been either. One columnist
from Peoria, who had covered the case since the beginning, stated frankly that
he did not believe the girl’s so-called "confession". And neither
did noted researcher Vincent Gaddis in his landmark book, “Mysterious Fires
and Lights“, who was convinced the case was a perfect example of poltergeist
phenomena.

In the end though, the case simply went away. Wanet was turned over to her
grandmother; the insurance company paid Willey for the damage done to his
house and farm; the reporters had closure for their stories; and the general
public was hand-fed a simple solution... which could not possibly have been
the truth.

While the media certainly got involved in this case, these were the days
before tabloids and tabloid TV. Poltergeist cases and media coverage certainly
seem to go hand in hand and in many cases, what began as actual event often
deteriorates into trickery. When this happens (and I’ll explain more in a
moment) many of these cases are often dismissed as being frauds all along,
when this couldn’t be further from the truth.

(Note: According to sources, recent accounts of Wanet McNeill’s activities
after the outbreaks in Macomb show that her life never again regained its
normalcy. Apparently, her emotional issues continued and later in life she was
jailed for a time for both petty theft and prostitution.)